Murray State
UT Martin
Women's Basketball Shoots Down Skyhawks 71-52
1/19/2008 6:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
The Murray State women's basketball team used a 14-0 run midway through the second half to push to the 71-52 win at UT Martin in Ohio Valley Conference action tonight. The win was the third straight for the Racers, and moved MSU into a tie for third place in the OVC standings with Samford.
Murray State (12-5, 6-3 OVC) led 36-30 at halftime over the homestanding Skyhawks (4-15, 1-8 OVC), but the Racers' play wasn't satisfactory for MSU head coach Jody Adams.
"I didn't think we did things the way they should be done," she said. "We want to move forward. I told them that I thought we were standing and passive and not dictating things, and that's got to change. We came out in the second half, and we shot the ball better, our defense picked up and our rebounds picked up."
Murray State was 13-for-23 inside (56.5 percent) and out-rebounded the Skyhawks 22-14. MSU grabbed 10 offensive rebounds in that half to UTM's seven defensive boards, and had 11 second-chance points in the latter period.
"I told them not to step on the court if they didn't want to show a good second effort on the offensive end," Adams said. "We needed that second effort, needed to pick up our pace on the offensive end from the first half."
UT Martin took a brief lead on its first possession, but a basket by senior guard Alaina Lee and a three-pointer by junior guard Amber Guffey gave Murray State a lead it wouldn't rescind. UTM's Crystal Fuller brought the Skyhakws within a point when her basket cut the MSU lead to 16-15, but a layup by senior center Angela Brown, a jumper by junior guard/forward Ashley Hayes and a layup by Brown pushed the Racers out to a 22-15 lead with 11:47 left in the first half.
UT Martin was able to work it back to a sixth and final tie when Fuller hit a jumper to make it 28-28 with 4:45 left in the first half, but a basket by Lee, a free throw by Hayes and five unanswered points by Guffey gave the Racers a 36-30 halftime lead.
At the half, Murray State was 14-for-30 from the field (46.7 percent), but had 14 rebounds to UTM's 17, with only three offensive boards. Guffey led all scorers at halftime with 11, getting all four of her free throws and five assists in the first 20 minutes. Brown had a game-high six rebounds at the half. Phyllisha Mitchell led the Skyhawks with nine first-half points, as UT Martin shot 12-for-26 (46.2 percent) from the line.
At the start of the second half, UT Martin was able to trim the Murray State lead to 42-38, but that's when the Racers took off, out-scoring the Skyhawks 19-2 over the next seven minutes, closing that run with 14 unanswered points to take their largest lead at 61-40 with 9:49 left in regulation en route to the 71-52 win.
Hayes scored 13 points in the second half, going 6-for-9 from the floor in the latter period, and she and Brown each had five rebounds. MSU had 22 second-half rebounds to UTM's 14, with 10 of those on the offensive end. Only seven total fouls were called in the second half of the game, and no one went to the free-throw line in that period. UT Martin, which leads the nation in fewest fouls committed per game, had 10 fouls in the game, while the Racers had six. The Skyhawks were 2-for-2 from the line, while MSU was 7-for-8.
Hayes led all scorers with 22 points on 10-for-18 shooting from the field to go with seven rebounds. Guffey added 16 points on 5-for-6 shooting from the floor and 4-for-4 from the line to go with a game-high six assists. Senior guard Shaleea Petty put in 10 points on 5-for-11 shooting to go with five assists and a game-high five steals. Brown had a season-high 11 rebounds (eight on the defensive end), while Lee had nine points, five rebounds and two steals.
UT Martin was paced by Mitchell, who had 13 points on 6-for-13 shooting and a team-high eight rebounds. Fuller added 12 points, six rebounds and three assists. Victoria Carlile had four rebounds and three assists, while Whitney Malone had four rebounds and Jennifer Angler had a team-high four assists.
Murray State returns home, where the Racers will play three of their next four games at the Regional Special Events Center. MSU hosts Tennessee Tech on Thursday at 5:30 p.m., then Southeast Missouri comes to town on Saturday for a 4:30 p.m. game (immediately following the men's game).
THE JOURNEY OF A THOUSAND POINTS...
Ashley Hayes now has 994 career points in her 76 games as a Racer, just six points from joining Murray State's 1,000-Point Club. Amber Guffey is also closer to that milestone, now with 983 career points, also in 76 games. Hayes moved into 16th place on the MSU women's basketball career scoring list, passing Melody Ottinger (1982-85, 1986-87), who ended her MSU career with 986. Fifteen Racers are members of the women's basketball 1,000-Point Club, with the most recent inductee being Rebecca Remington (2001-05), who finished her four-year career with 1,053 points.
REACHING THE CENTURY MARK
Rebecca Remington was also the most recent MSU women's basketball player to take part in 100 games, but there are three Racers on the verge of reaching that milestone as well. Alaina Lee has now played in 99 career games for the Nay and Gold, while Gerraca Matthews and Shaleea Petty have each played in 97. Only 25 Murray State women's basketball players have played in at least 100 games thus far. Petty has now started in 96 games, tying her for seventh on the MSU career starts list with Susan Tackett (1998-2002).
PETTY THEFT
With her five steals tonight, senior Shaleea Petty has moved into fifth place on the MSU career steals list, now with 176 career swipes, passing Melody Ottinger. Petty also passing Ottinger on the MSU career assists list, taking the No. 6 spot after her five assists tonight gave her 348 for her career. Now with 2,782 career minutes played, she is just 10 minutes from the top 10 list in that category. Monika Gadson (1997-2001) played 2,792 career minutes for Murray State, ranking 10th on the list.
TONIGHT'S OVC SCORES
MURRAY STATE 71, at UT Martin 52
at Morehead State 78, Jacksonville State 51
Eastern Illinois 69, at Tennessee State 56
at Eastern Kentucky 72, Samford 45
Southeast Missouri 49, at Tennessee Tech 39
Austin Peay was idle tonight
OVC STANDINGS (good through Jan. 23, given as: OVC / Overall)
Eastern Illinois 9-2 / 9-9
Southeast Missouri 7-2 / 12-6
MURRAY STATE 6-3 / 12-5
Samford 6-3 / 13-6
Eastern Kentucky 5-4 / 10-6
Morehead State 5-5 / 7-11
Tennessee State 4-5 / 7-11
Jacksonville State 4-6 / 7-12
Austin Peay 2-6 / 5-12
Tennessee Tech 2-7 / 3-16
UT Martin 1-8 / 4-15
